Lithuanian authorities are planning to open registration centres for Ukrainian war refugees in Klaipėda, Šiauliai, and Panevėžys, Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė said after visiting a centre opened in Vilnius on Sunday.
“This is the third registration centre – the first two have been opened in Marijampolė and Alytus. Together with the local authorities of Vilnius, we are now looking for additional premises for similar centres as they are needed enormously,” Bilotaitė told reporters on Monday.
“Obviously, the number [of centres] will increase, and these three sites are insufficient. We are working out plans for similar centres to be opened in Klaipėda, Šiauliai, and Panevėžys in the near future,” she added.
The registration centres allow Ukrainians to initiate migration procedures and provide temporary accommodation for up to three days.
According to the Migration Department, 3,135 refugees from Ukraine have already registered in Lithuania, but the actual number of arrivals could be higher. Of the registered Ukrainian refugees, more than a third are children, head of the Migration Department Evelina Gudzinskaitė told ELTA news agency.
The data published by the interior ministry on Saturday showed that more than 11,000 accommodation places have already been prepared for the Ukrainians by Lithuanian municipalities. Moreover, Lithuanian people have registered more than 7,000 dwellings that could accommodate 23,000 Ukrainians via the NGO Strong Together (Stiprūs Kartu).
According to the United Nations, more than 1.7 million people have already fled war in Ukraine, with over a million arriving in Poland.
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